(VIDEO) Vehicle overturns on Rt. 422 in Lower Pottsgrove

LOWER POTTSGROVE — A Royerford man escaped a rollover crash on Route 422 without injury Tuesday morning and was rescued from his overturned vehicle by motorists who stopped to help, police confirmed.

Lower Pottsgrove police said Michael Stopyra, 18, was headed west on Route 422 when he lost control of his Ford Explorer Sport Trac around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, then hydroplaned in the area of the Route 422 bridge over Sanatoga Road, and his vehicle rolled.

“From the sound of it, from what witnesses are saying, he hydroplaned,” Lower Pottsgrove Officer James Kenney said. “He flipped, rolling over twice, and he was able to get himself out.

“He was trapped in there for a few minutes. One of the witnesses, he was operating a dump truck and he had a shovel and he had broken out the glass” to Stopyra’s vehicle and helped him out of the overturned vehicle, Kenney said. “By the time I got there, (Stopyra) was already out of the vehicle.”

Advertisement

Kenney said the crash occurred on Route 422 in the area where the reduced speed limit for construction goes into effect.

Stopyra told Kenney he had sneezed while driving, and when he opened his eyes after sneezing, he saw “he had veered off to his left and was about to strike the speed reduced sign for the construction,” Kenney explained. That’s when Stopyra over-corrected and hydroplaned.

One lane of traffic was able to slowly pass by during the incident, although westbound traffic backed up east of the Sanatoga exit as emergency crews worked to clear the crash. The crash was cleared shortly before 10 a.m.

Kenney said Stopyra didn’t “strike anything and there were no injuries,” and it doesn’t appear any citations will be filed.

In addition to Lower Pottsgrove police, area fire departments and fire police, as well as Goodwill Ambulance responded to the crash.